Eric van der Woodsen
'Eric van der Woodsen '''is Serena van der Woodsen's brother in the hit teen series ''Gossip Girl. Novel Series Eric's name is spelled Erik in the Gossip Girl novels. He isn't featured much. Erik van der Wooden was the older brother of Serena van der Woodsen. In the book series, Erik is a junior at Brown University. Serena has said he has “at least six or seven different girlfriends he sleeps with routinely”. On a trip to Sun Valley, Erik and Serena’s best friend Blair Waldorf dated briefly. Very close to his sister, Erik threw her a giant sixteenth birthday bash and drove her up to Hanover on her first day of school there. Aside from his brief appearances, Erik remained a relatively quiet secondary character throughout the series, however he did have a bigger part in the Gossip Girl prequel. TV Series Eric van der Woodsen is the younger brother of the famous Serena van der Woodsen. In the beginning of Season 1 Eric is at the Ostroff Center because he tried to commit suicide. Although Lily was at first unaware of the fact that Eric is gay, he is openly so to most of the other characters. Later Georgina reveals that Eric is gay, and while Lily doesn't react favorably, she comes to accept it. Eric shares a close relationship with his sister and is more forgiving of his mother's mistakes than Serena. Eric is oftenthe voice of reason for the characters and also one of the more calm figures in the series. Eric and Jenny are close friends, although they sometimes have differences. When Jenny is dating Asher, he tells her that Asher is just using her as a cover and in fact, he and Asher dated at one point. When Jenny is Queen, she is rude to Eric and his boyfriend Jonathan, putting a strain on their relationship. But when Jenny leaves town after losing her virginity to Chuck he promises to be there for her when she returns, despite the fact that Jenny wrecked Serena and her friends's lives. When his mother was married to Bart, Eric and Chuck had a surprisingly cordial brotherly relationship, although it seems to have faded away. Eric is currently dating no other character in the series but it is revealed on the episode "Damien Darko". That they maybe a relationship between him and Damien Dalgaard in later epsiodes. Although as such Damien may just be using Eric to get back at Ben. Season 1 At the beginning of the season, we learn that Eric has attempted suicide and is living at the Ostroff Center. Serena is constantly visiting him as well as trying to convince the doctors and her mother to let him out. They let Eric out temporarily, during the Ivy League Mixer, where he develops a friendship with the young Jenny Humphrey, telling her about his issues. After Blair Waldorf humiliates his sister, telling the whole school she was attending the Ostroff Center during her absence having mistakenly seeing photos of Serena entering the center to visit Eric, Eric tells Blair he was the one attending the mental center and shows her the scars on his wrists from his suicide attempt. At Blair's sleepover, Blair dares Jenny to break into the Ostroff Center and take Eric out for the night. Jenny and Blair succeed and they take him to a bar downtown. His mother, Lily, is then made aware of his disappearance and begins to panic. She quickly informs Rufus, whose son is on a date with Serena, after she cannot get hold of her. They contact the couple to make sure Eric is alright and to bring him home. Later, Lily realizes Eric that is ready come out of the medical center. He is present during Thanksgiving dinner at the Humphrey's apartment when Lily and Rufus reveal they had a previous relationship years ago. Due to his mother's engagement to billionaire Bart Bass, he develops a close friendship with Chuck Bass, whom he sees as a brother. He tries to warn Jenny about her new boyfriend Asher Hornsby but she thinks he is falling in love with her. In the same episode, Dan Humphrey and Georgina Sparks see Asher making out with someone the audience can't see. During a dinner with his family, Georgina Sparks unknowingly outs Eric. Eric's homosexuality upsets Lily and Serena, who blame themselves for Eric getting institutionalized. Serena learns that Eric told Chuck about his homosexuality before her because he knew Chuck wouldn't judge him. At Asher and Jenny's party, Eric helps Blair to confront Asher, who has been lying about having a sexual relationship with Jenny Humphrey, proclaiming in front of everybody of his homosexuality and letting Blair send the messages they have been sending each other to Gossip Girl causing Asher's precocious coming out and Jenny's dethroning. Along with Chuck, he is a best man in the van der Bass wedding. Season 2 During summer 2008, Eric is staying with his sister and grandmother in The Hamptons. He receives a call from Jenny who tells him, she needs help to get in the Vitamin White Party. She apologizes to him about the incident with Asher and they become friends again. Eric introduces Tinsley Mortimer to Jenny to extend her contacts in the fashion industry. After the school year starts, although Serena complains about Lily's new marriage and their new house rules, Eric thinks they should give the marriage a chance. Later, Eric introduces Jonathan Whitney ( Played by Matt Doyle (actor)) as his new boyfriend. They break up after Bart tells Eric that Jonathan has been cheating on him. Eric lodges Jenny secretly in the Bass-van der Woodsen penthouse and goes with her to make the paperwork to divorce her parents. Eric then discovers that Bart hired his private detective, Andrew Taylor to do research about his, Lily's and Serena's past. He discovers that Lily was also institutionalized at a French sanatorium and that she didn't tell him so that she could be strong for him. Bart's actions convince Lily to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Humphreys. After Bart's death, Eric comes back with Jonathan and tries to convince Chuck to go back to their penthouse. Chuck and Eric officially go from close friends to brothers after Lily adopts her late husband's son. Season 3 During summer 2009, Eric is in his grandma's house with Jenny, Dan & Rufus while his mother is in Montecito taking care of CeCe. He observes Jenny's speech to the rest of Constance that end the school hierarchy. During Jenny's gradual transformation as an Upper East Side Queen, he falls victim to Jenny and her cronies when a battle over the steps that Jonathan inadvertently started and ends with Eric being splattered with yogurt. The Halloween party that followed after had Jonathan being egged at the club opening, enraging Eric, who tells Jenny he wants nothing to do with her. Eric sabotages Jenny's Cotillion by falsely sending a text to Graham Collins, the date Jenny wants using her phone which claims that she Jonathan will be taking her to Cotillion. He joins forces with Blair, whom Jenny also offends publicly, in making Kira Abernathy, a Constance student whom Jenny regularly ignores, a threat to Jenny's reign as Queen. Blair gives Kira a makeover and Eric blackmails Graham into becoming Kira's escort instead of Jenny. Jenny soon endures public humiliation but manages to gain their respect by taking Nate as her escort for Cotillion. These events cause Jonathan to break up with Eric as he claims Eric has changed now that he's resorted to scheming with Blair. After Cotillion, Jenny leaves with the other Upper East Side Queen Bees and leaves unaware that Eric has been responsible for her public embarrassment. At Thanksgiving Jenny discovers that Eric was the one behind her public embarrassment at Cotillion which sets her getting her revenge on him. Eric teams up with Kira and attempts to ruin Jenny by buying one his accomplices the same bag as her and have the girls turn against her. This fails as Jenny reveals two identical bags handing them over to his accomplices, falsely apologizing for her actions but claiming that one of the girls whom Erica bought a bag for spoiled her surprise. Eric and Jenny then to a truce after Serena's car accident. It is revealed in "The Inglourious Bassterds" that Eric was in Japan and ends up meeting a potential love-interest named Elliot (portrayed by Luke Kleintank) during a game of assassin on Nate's birthday.On the day of Dorota's wedding, Eric wonders if Elliot is gay and discovers that he has a girlfriend during the wedding reception. Elliot then confides in Eric that he is bisexual, indicating that Eric still has a chance with him when Elliot tells him that his girlfriend left out of jealousy. Eric's relationship with his father, William van der Woodsen, is also observed when he coldly rejects him for not being there for him. He informs him that he is gay and he had been institutionalized. His friendship with Jenny is once again tested when she reveals that she aided his father's escape from the police. He coldly states that no one is forcing Jenny to stay and that she can leave if she wants to. Season 4 In the "The Undergraduates" episode, Chuck tries to make amends with Rufus and Eric, by coming to Fashion Week with his new girlfriend, Eva. Eric, however, informs Rufus of Chuck's Season 1 assault of Jenny and says that his brother has been given too many chances to redeem himself, signaling the end of their once-close bond. When Jenny returns to the Upper East Side briefly for an interview with Tim Gunn, Eric attempts to help her make a good impression and keep her away from both Chuck and Blair. ﻿It is later revealed that in Damien Darko, that Eric and Elliot broke up and that he has been lying to Lily all along. And at the end of the episode Damien contacts Eric in an attempt to get back at Ben at this may start a relationship between the two . Category:Characters Category:Recurring Characters Category:Males